Atmospheric pressure de-equalizer or mechanical balloon for use in giving buoyancy to air vehicles



March 23, 1937. O K QUAST 2,074,343

CAL BALLOON 0 AIR VEHICLES ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DE-EQUALIZER OR MECHANI FOR USE IN GIVING BUOYANCY T Filed March 2, 1935 Patented Mar. 23, 1937 ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE DE-EQUALIZER R MECHANICAL BALLOON FOR USE IN GIVING BUOYANCY TO AIR VEHICLES Otto Karl Quast, Spokane, Wash. Application March 2, 1935, Serial No. 9,102

7 6 Claims.

The present invention is an improvement on that described ina prior'patent issued to me on July 17,1934, under No. 1,966,461.

. The general object of the present invention is,

a to provide a lifting apparatus of greater efficiency.

still further object of the present invention isto provide" an air vehicle with a lifting apparatus supplying a maximum amount of lifting force withthe use of a' minimum amount of power.

With the, above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts as will be hereafter more especially'described andclaimed and which-are. shown in the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 4 is a view in section of Fig. 3-taken on line 4-4 thereof;

Fig. 5 is an end View of Fig. l and of Fig. 3. Referring more particularly to the drawing throughout which like reference numerals desigy nate like parts and the elementary functionings involved, the numeral l indicates a drive shaft, 2indicates a hub keyed to said drive shaft and to which said hub 2, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2,- are attached disk plates or-blade holders 5, with part 5 of said blades 3 extending beyond the outer rim of said blade holders 5as is indicated by 4; and which in Fig land Fig. 2, the said drive shaft l, hub 2, blade holders 5 and blades 3 make up as one unit the said lifting apparatus rotatable bodyor air-eliminator, indicated by numeral I4;

the numeral 6 indicates a semi-annular stationary bottom surrounding the lower circumferential half of said air-eliminator Land towhich said semi-annular bottom 6 are attached side plates 5 or walls l, one on each side thereof, as is shownby flanges 8 and 9 andbolts lflj and which said bottomB and said walls I, when so combined, make up the said lifting apparatus stationary housing I! wherein said air-eliminator I4 functions when said lifting apparatus is in operation;

l2 indicatesbearings disposed on center of said walls I, for said drive shaft I, of said air-eliminator Hi, to operate in; II indicates a vent in said bottom 6 of said stationary housing I1 with a' shutter to open and to close said vent; arrows l5 indicate air that is centrifugally expelled, by said air-eliminator [4, out of said stationary housing l1; and arrows [6 indicate the exhausting of air from the center of said lifting apparatus when said air-eliminator 14 operates at a slow starting speed. The numeral [3 of Fig. 3, Fig. 4 and as is fractionally shown in Fig. 5, indicates a disk plate or blade holder connected to said hub 2, in the center thereof, with said blades 3 attached radially to each side of said blade-holder l3, and which so assembled makes up a modified air-- eliminator l4 of Fig. 1. Now as to the said elementary functionings involved, the basic principle of thepresent invention rests first upon the well known fact that air expands into a vacuum with a speed of approximately 1300 feet per second at sea level, and with lesser speeds at higher altitudes where the air becomes less and. less compressed, and secondly rests upon the fact that the weight of air makes it possible to centrifugally expel said air by operation of said apparatus of this invention, creating a vacuum which gives lifting power enabling said apparatus, or the air vehicle fitted with it, to rise; said non-equal pressure towards said vacuum is established by providing said semi-annular bottom 6, of said lifting apparatus said stationary housing H, to cover the lower circumferential half of said vacuum and said walls 1 thereof to prevent entry of air from the sides into said vacuum created by said air-eliminator M in operation at proper speeds in' said stationary housing I! when said lifting apparatus is assembled as a whole; said extension 4 of blades 3, beyond the outer rim of said blade holders 5, Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and as partly shown in Fig. 5, serves to bring said blades 3 of said aireliminator 14 at this point into close contact with said walls 1 of said stationary housing I1, thereby preventing inflow of air and the entry of at mospheric pressure between said walls I and said blade holders 5, so no pressure will result from this direction upon the upper surface of said bottom 6 and will thus help to preserve the apparatus liftingcapacity; and in construction of air-eliminator 14, Fig. 3, Fig. 4, this principle is carried to a still greater completeness by total elimination of said blade holders 5 covering the side edges of said blades 3 as in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. Now being that at sea level said atmosphere expands into a vacuum with a said speed of approximately 1300 feet per second, it will become apparent that the rim speed of said air-eliminator 14, or the speed of the outer ends of said air expelling blades 3 thereof, has to be equal to that of said expansion of said atmosphere into said vacuum in order to first exhaust and then keep exhausted said air from the inner area of said lifting apparatus and to maintain a vacuum is therein, shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4, which said 5 vacuum is exposed open to the surrounding atmosphere on the upper circumferential half of said lifting apparatus and, as stated above, is shut off therefrom on the lower circumferential half thereof by said bottom 6, and on the sides thereof by said walls I, with the result that the full atmospheric pressure of 2121 pounds per square foot area at sea level is retained to press against the outer or lower surface of said bottom 6 of said apparatus, whereas from the inner or upper surface thereof said atmospheric pressure is kept continuously removed by operation of said aireliminator l4, causing said apparatus to rise, following the line of the least resistance upward, as is indicated by arrow l9, Fig. 5. When said blades 3 of said air-eliminator M are spaced one inch apart on its outer circumference and said rim speed has been brought up to said speed of air expanding into a vacuum, the air inflow behind the speeding blades will then attain a depth of approximately half an inch when it is swept out by the discharge face of the following blade as is shown by numeral 20, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4; as the downward pressure upon said blades 3 passing through the first half of said lifting apparatus circumferential open upper half, or air discharge field, is counteracted by the pressure upward upon said blades 3 passing through the last half thereof, and the air having been exhausted from said inner area of said lifting apparatus, no atmospheric pressure downward upon said lifting apparatus will exist, with the exception of =-that small amount bearing upon the surface of said outer edges of said blades 3, so that it will be readily understood why said apparatus is forced to rise into the air, and is held suspended therein, by the said full atmospheric pressure retained on the lower circumferential half of said lifting apparatus. Said vent and shutter ll of said housing I! serve in raising and in lowering of an air vehicle fitted with said lifting apparatus, as operating said shutter, opening said vent, will remove an amount of said lifting pressure from said bottom 6 equal to the area of shutter so removed from said vent and thus regulates the crafts descent, and when closing said vent will add to said pressure area correspondingly and so become instrumental in regulating said crafts ascent, a very desirable feature, as otherwise the said ascending and descending would have to be regulated by the variation of the speed of said air-eliminator M, which, on account of impairing safety factors, is not desirable; and said shutter and vent arrangement further becomes useful in determining the amount of power that is required for given loads to be taken up at given speeds; for instance, if four horsepower were to take up a load of 2200 pounds at the rate of 60 feet per minute, using the formula of horsepower, one horsepower would be suificient to take said load of 2200 pounds up at the rate of 15 feet per minute instead, because, in the first instance when rising, said air-eliminator blades operate in four times as great a depth of air than in the latter case, or in other words, in the first instance said air-eliminator penetrates in one minute a layer of air 60 feet in depth and in the latter case penetrates in the same length of time a layer of air that is only 15 feet in depth, so by this it will be seen that it requires only a very small amount of power to hold said load a a. 50

termed ceiling when once the craft has been taken up, and this must be looked upon as an additional basic feature of this invention; when said shutter is operated closing said vent speedily, then said craft rises faster, requiring more power accordingly, but closing the said vent more slowly, the craft will then rise more slowly also, in which latter case it will take less power to lift said load. Tests made with a model of this type lifter four feet in diameter and of one foot in width, giving said air-eliminator a rim speed up to 300 feet per second, left no doubt that the model now designed to stand up under a rim speed of 1400 feet per second will prove this invention is fully successful. Further, unlike other helicoptric lifting devices, when fitted to a craft the torque of said lifting apparatus of this invention is in line of flight of said craft as is indicated by direction arrows of air-expeller, and by direction arrows underneath apparatus Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 showing the direction of fiight of said craft, granting a smooth flight ahead and which is another basic feature of this invention; and said apparatus, as will be seen by said arrows underneath Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, when fitted to a craft functions counter-clockwise to said crafts line of flight and will thus also aid in giving forward pro-' pulsion to said craft, as the blades of said airexpeller, when exhausting said air will give a pressure in a direction aiding the craft in its forward movement. The inventor believes that this invention as it now stands is the only solution that will fully solve the problem of making air transportation a commercial success, because we now know of the great amount of atmospheric working pressure this invention is capable of delivering, and it will be readily seen that the constructional part of this invention is such that any air seeking to enter said apparatus to destroy said vacuum therein has to do so against the centrifugal eliminating forces of said blades of said air-eliminator of said lifting apparatus.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A propeller comprising a stationary housing composed of a semi-annular bottom, two disklike side walls attached to said semi-annular bottom, bearings disposed centrally in said walls of said stationary housing, and comprising a rotatable air-eliminator that functions in said stationary housing and is made up of a drive shaft and a hub, and of two blade holders that in diameter are less than the diameter of said stationary housing and one of which thereof is attached to each end of said hub, and of blades disposed radially and properly spaced between said blade holders with part of said blades extending beyond the outer rim of said blade holders so as to make a close contact between said blades and said walls of said stationary housing and the outer ends thereof with the upper surface of said semi-annular bottom of said stationary housing.

2. A propeller as claimed in claim 1 said stationary housing consisting of said disk like walls between which is fitted said semi-annular bottom forming the closed lower half of said housing and leaving the circumferential upper space thereof between said disk like walls uncovered to serve as discharge field for air from said air-eliminator and to partly expose said vacuum of said lifting apparatus to the surrounding atmosphere.

3. A propeller as claimed in claim 1 comprising a modified air eliminator composed of said drive shaft and said hub, and of a blade holder that is attached to the center of said hub, with said air exhaust blades fitted radially to each side of said blade holder.

4. Said propeller as claimed in claim 1, said exhaust blades of the air eliminator of said propeller are spaced at such a distance that the centrifugal expulsion force will thoroughly eliminate V the atmospheric pressure from the area within the said propeller when a rim speed of 1300 feet per second is attained by said air eliminator when operating at sea level altitude, thus removing the atmospheric pressure from the upper surface of the bottom of said stationary housing of said propeller, and retaining same intact on the lower surface thereof on which it exerts itself as a useful lifting force. 7

5. A propeller as claimed in claim 1, a said vent in said semi-annular bottom of said stationary housing, with a said shutter to open and to close said vent, and by which said operation of said shutter is established, a lift control by which is obtainable a maximum amount of lifting force with a minimum amount of power.

6. Said propeller as claimed in claim 1, said exhaust blades of said air eliminator of said propeller are constructed with a flat surface, allowing said air eliminator to be rotated in either direction to eliminate the atmospheric pressure within said propellers stationary housing, when at the same time said air exhaust blades will engage the air surrounding said exhaust field of said propeller, thereby also creating a forward or reverse propulsion, as may be desired.

OTTO KARL QUAS'I. 

